Justin Masterson gave the Indians what they needed today: a solid start. Masterson struck out five in three perfect innings, but the Chicago Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the eighth against Frank Herrmann and won it in the ninth against Vinnie Pestano on a two-out RBI single by Brett Jackson. The walk-off hit gave the Cubs a 2-1 victory.
Offense was lacking for the Tribe, with the only run coming on a Jayson Nix home run. Cleveland mustered a mere five hits -- one more than Chicago -- but it was not enough to prevent the Indians from falling to 4-8 on the spring, and from losing their fourth in a row.
Another bright pitching note was the three innings of scoreless work from Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez gave up just one hit and a walk and struck out three.
The Cubs’ Andrew Cashner got the win with four innings of one-run work.
Tomorrow the Indians face the Seattle Mariners at 3:05 in a “home” matinee.